Interesting timing to have discovered this thread.
I've recently finished reading a book called Turning The Mind Into An Ally by Sakyong Mipham
Here are of the notes I took:
We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is
We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing.
We're bewildered and suffering because we take ourselves so seriously. The fact is that what happens to us as a solid reality is actually in a state of continuous flux.
It's just as absurd to think we have a self. Yet we spend our lives clinging to an imaginary identity cobbled together from different thoughts and concepts, trying to keep it happy, and that is why we suffer.
The bewildered mind is weak because it is continually distracted. It's distracted by the overriding need to maintain the comfort of "me"
What makes us happy and what makes us sad come down to volatile outer conditions, circumstances, that are constantly changing. This adds up to bewilderment and suffering for us.
"True liberation is life without the illusion of 'me' - or 'you'."
Meditation allows us to relax our grip on "me" because we're able to see the thoughts not so much as our personal identity, but more as effects of the speed of our mind.
The suffering created by hope and fear routinely clouds our perception of what is happening in the present moment.
We're busy spinning out best and worst-case scenarios, rather than relaxing where we are.
Our root fantasy is that "I" am real and that there's a way to make "me" happy. The reason we meditate is to let that fantasy unravel.
After a while, we notice that much of what we took to be real and permanent about ourselves isn't so solid – it's a string of thoughts we hold together with tremendous effort. We've built an identity out of a thin web of concepts.
We organize our life around the concept of a solid self in a solid world, even though all of it is simply ideas and forms coming in and out of existence, like thousands of stars flickering in the night. Is there anything that is not impermanent?
Understanding the meaning of impermanence makes us less desperate people. It gives us dignity. We no longer grasp at pleasure, trying to squeeze out every last drop. We no longer consider pain something we should fear, deny and avoid. We know that it will change.
Samsara isn't a place, it's an attitude: "I'm real and everything's for me." When we become aware of this attitude and what creates it, we can start to change it.
What creates samsara is that we keep trying to get pleasure by engaging in nonvirtuous activity resulting from bewilderment, fixation, desire, aggression, jealousy and pride. This leads not to pleasure but to suffering.
Suffering is the karma of nonvirtuous activity. Karma means "action."
Whatever happens is the result of many causes and conditions. Who grew the apple we eat? Who picked it? Who delivered it to the grocery store? Karma makes the world go round.
The more self-involved we are, the more anger, jealousy, pride, and other traumatic emotions we have.
Whenever we seek more self-satisfaction, we end up with more suffering, from minor to extreme.
Love is the wish for others to be happy, for them to accomplish whatever their mind desires – whether it's material or mental – whatever they wish for in order to be fulfilled.
"Until all beings achieve the level of a buddha, I will be courageous in working for the happiness of others." This expresses the motivation of the bodhisattva warrior, one who vows to develop his enlightened mind in order to help others.
The mind of enlightenment emerges whenever we find ourselves wishing for someone else's happiness without wanting anything in return.
This shift is sparked by seeing that the habit of always thinking of ourselves only keeps us unhappy. To extend outselves to others is the route to true happiness.
"If you want to be miserable, think about yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others."
Generosity, patience, exertion, discipline, meditation and prajna are the enlightened activities of the warrior bodhisattva.
I've recently finished reading a book called Turning The Mind Into An Ally by Sakyong Mipham
Here are of the notes I took:
We suffer because we want life to be different from what it is
We suffer because we try to make pleasurable what is painful, to make solid what is fluid, to make permanent what is always changing.
We're bewildered and suffering because we take ourselves so seriously. The fact is that what happens to us as a solid reality is actually in a state of continuous flux.
It's just as absurd to think we have a self. Yet we spend our lives clinging to an imaginary identity cobbled together from different thoughts and concepts, trying to keep it happy, and that is why we suffer.
The bewildered mind is weak because it is continually distracted. It's distracted by the overriding need to maintain the comfort of "me"
What makes us happy and what makes us sad come down to volatile outer conditions, circumstances, that are constantly changing. This adds up to bewilderment and suffering for us.
"True liberation is life without the illusion of 'me' - or 'you'."
Meditation allows us to relax our grip on "me" because we're able to see the thoughts not so much as our personal identity, but more as effects of the speed of our mind.
The suffering created by hope and fear routinely clouds our perception of what is happening in the present moment.
We're busy spinning out best and worst-case scenarios, rather than relaxing where we are.
Our root fantasy is that "I" am real and that there's a way to make "me" happy. The reason we meditate is to let that fantasy unravel.
After a while, we notice that much of what we took to be real and permanent about ourselves isn't so solid – it's a string of thoughts we hold together with tremendous effort. We've built an identity out of a thin web of concepts.
We organize our life around the concept of a solid self in a solid world, even though all of it is simply ideas and forms coming in and out of existence, like thousands of stars flickering in the night. Is there anything that is not impermanent?
Understanding the meaning of impermanence makes us less desperate people. It gives us dignity. We no longer grasp at pleasure, trying to squeeze out every last drop. We no longer consider pain something we should fear, deny and avoid. We know that it will change.
Samsara isn't a place, it's an attitude: "I'm real and everything's for me." When we become aware of this attitude and what creates it, we can start to change it.
What creates samsara is that we keep trying to get pleasure by engaging in nonvirtuous activity resulting from bewilderment, fixation, desire, aggression, jealousy and pride. This leads not to pleasure but to suffering.
Suffering is the karma of nonvirtuous activity. Karma means "action."
Whatever happens is the result of many causes and conditions. Who grew the apple we eat? Who picked it? Who delivered it to the grocery store? Karma makes the world go round.
The more self-involved we are, the more anger, jealousy, pride, and other traumatic emotions we have.
Whenever we seek more self-satisfaction, we end up with more suffering, from minor to extreme.
Love is the wish for others to be happy, for them to accomplish whatever their mind desires – whether it's material or mental – whatever they wish for in order to be fulfilled.
"Until all beings achieve the level of a buddha, I will be courageous in working for the happiness of others." This expresses the motivation of the bodhisattva warrior, one who vows to develop his enlightened mind in order to help others.
The mind of enlightenment emerges whenever we find ourselves wishing for someone else's happiness without wanting anything in return.
This shift is sparked by seeing that the habit of always thinking of ourselves only keeps us unhappy. To extend outselves to others is the route to true happiness.
"If you want to be miserable, think about yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others."
Generosity, patience, exertion, discipline, meditation and prajna are the enlightened activities of the warrior bodhisattva.